Most often, fast induced polarization in frozen rocks appears in the transient electromagnetic data at early (less than a few hundreds of microseconds) times as a nonmonotone voltage response. Usually, such transients are interpreted in terms of Pelton's resistivity/conductivity model. The relaxation time tau(IS) found in this way determines the decay rate of transient voltage response to a current step. Conversion of tau(IS) into the relaxation time tau(VS), determining the decay rate of the current response to a voltage step, gives tau(VS) values typical for dielectric relaxation of ice at temperatures of about several degrees below zero. This result, along with the fact that both fast induced polarization and dielectric polarization of ice are described by the Debye relaxation model, suggests that fast induced polarization in frozen rocks is controlled by the dielectric polarization of ice. As a possible mechanism for such a control, the effect of ice polarization on the surface conductivity of frozen rocks is considered.
